Automobile accidents are an unfortunate reality in the world today. Every year tens of thousands of accidents occur in the United States alone. These accidents at minimum cause a financial strain on the automobile's owner and insurance companies and in worst case scenarios result in the fatality of the driver and/or other occupants of the vehicle. In 2012 alone, there were over 33,561 auto related deaths in the US. In recent decades the automotive industry has seen great advances in safety with innovations such as frontal air bags, side curtain airbags, electronic crash avoidance systems, and structural crumple zones to name a few. Still with the safety innovations we have today, there is demand to further improve the safety of automobiles.
With regard to crash situations where the impact is directed to the outer 25% of vehicles, such as in front impact crashes, automakers have resorted to two main strategies for improving their vehicles performance (e.g., in both the IIHS Small Overlap Front Impact Test and in real world accidents). These strategies include: 1) adding structure to the front corners of the vehicle between the front bumper and the panel at the aft side of the wheel well, and 2) designing structural members, such as the wheel and lower control arm, to fracture at a given load while flexing at loads of lesser energy. Such known strategies do not provide a satisfactory solution in all aspects.